Chris Martins

October 11, 2013 –
Swedish metal bands do not frequently offer simple solutions for modern living. Swedish furniture hawker IKEA does not cover itself in beef blood and screech about satan. (Like, say Watain, shot for SPIN by Krista Schlueter at Irving Plaza, might.) The two are philosophically opposed in just about every way imaginable. But as it turns out, to the layman's eye, the oft Nordic-sourced names of death (or black) metal bands and IKEA's ready-to-assemble delights are pretty much indistinguishable.The marketing geniuses at Gatesman+Dave have launched a hilarious site called IKEA or Death, in which visitors are invited to guess whether the names in randomly generated a series apply to — you guessed it — a product from the Swedish company, or a guitar-wielding gang of guyliner-ed curs. It's good clean fun at the playful expense of two pretty awesome institutions.

October 11, 2013 –
Hey, baby. Where you goin'? Please don't rush off so soon. Prince has a video message for you about the most important meal of the day. The Purple One wants — nay, needs — you to know that "Breakfast Can Wait." We've heard the super-sultry song, of course, and we've seen the Dave Chappelle-starring cover art. But now there's the Danielle Curiel-directed clip above to consider, and it's far more impressive than the low-budget "Screwdriver" clip that you had to pay to see.The visuals are as high-sheen and highly sexualized as the song itself, opening with a steamy tête-à-tête between a woman in a Minnie Mouse dress and a regular-ass dude who turns out to have some pretty next-level Boy Band dance moves. Cut to the dominatrix dance squad and the woman with the wig and painted-on mustache dressed like Prince.

October 11, 2013 –
In the early '90s, the glitch-addled experimental electronica of so-called IDM may as well have been the official soundtrack to then-burgeoning hacker culture. Warp Records' very name speaks to a desire to damage or distort the status quo, and flagship artists like Autechre (and Aphex Twin, and Squarepusher) made large strides in that arena. Wonderfully, the recent resurgence of dance music has thrown shine back on these left-field originals, and the coming of Yeezus did more than a little to acquaint fresh ears to far out sonics (see Arca).All of this comes together pretty much perfectly with the arrival of Autechre's L-event, a corollary to Sean Booth and Rob Brown's February long-player Exai. The new four-song set is a fantastic collision of brutal sonics and bounding beats, and it's streaming now — quite possibly on this very page if you clicked on the link above.

October 11, 2013 –
Language barriers in music can sometimes inspire even deeper connections than when everything is understood. We hear the intent behind the voice, while the music that underpins it all is allowed to speak for itself. If you're fluent in Hebrew, disregard such musings and fast-forward to the part where you hit play on "Ze Beseder Lefahed" by Tel Aviv trio Vaadat Charigim. The song dwells in the sweet spot between Joy Division's post-punk grit and New Order's new wave sheen, doling out gorgeous melody and gauzy guitar-play in equal doses.Juval Haring's voice dabbles in duality as well, assured at times and pained at others. With no translation necessary, the Israeli band has been making waves here and are poised to release their debut album, The World Is Well Lost, on November 12 internationally.

October 10, 2013 –
UPDATE: FLAG's camp now says Ginn lost his "preliminary injunction" against Keith Morris' band and Henry Rollins, not the actual lawsuit. The lawsuit has not and could still go to court, but this ruling essentially says that it has very little chance of holding up.Black Flag founder Greg Ginn has lost the preliminary injunction in his lawsuit against FLAG, the spinoff band featuring founding singer Keith Morris and longtime bassist Chuck Dukowski. While FLAG — which also features OG members Dez Cadena and Bill Stevenson, and Descendants guitarist Stephen Egerton — has been out destroying shows like this Redondo Beach Moose Lodge thrasher, Ginn has reformed his own Black Flag unit and hit some festivals here and there.

October 10, 2013 –
Two things. One: Australia new wave outfit Cut Copy are back with a new song and album called Free Your Mind. Okay, you knew that.) Two: They brought True Blood star Alexander Skarsgård with them. Yes, you'll find the flaxen-haired adonis above, playing a cult leader while the occasionally bongo-enhanced sounds of the band's newly house-addled grooves run wild in the background. In the clip, directed by Christopher Hill, we find Skarsgård at the helm of a gang of blue-suited minions.They wash his feet, allow him to drum on their heads, are awed when he scores in ball-less basketball, and even take detailed note on his urination process. Cut Copy's Dan Whitford fittingly coos, "Ooooh, shine brother, shine on / Shine brighter than the sun." But as we witness the master going about his daily rituals, a conflict arises over a woman.

October 10, 2013 –
Eminem has released the track list for his highly anticipated new album Marshall Mathers LP 2, due out November 5. So far we've received videos for the hard-rhyming "Survival" and noise-rap platter "Berzerk" — both showcases for Em's solo strength. Now the Detroit-reared MC icon reveals his collaborators along with the back cover of the album and the names of the remaining songs. As it turns out, he'll be joined by his "Love the Way You Lie" partner Rihanna, plus Kendrick Lamar (who appears in the "Berzerk" clip), fun. main brain Nate Ruess (he of recent-ish hits by Ellie Goulding, Pink, and Ke$ha), and also Skylar Grey. The executive producers ar Dr. Dre and Rick Rubin — no surprises there — and the artwork is plays off of the status of his foreclosed-upon childhood home.

October 10, 2013 –
Deap Vally's brutalist boogie tantrum Sistrionix was SPIN's album of the week with good reason. That 11-song set stomps and swaggers like vintage bayou boogie, with Lindsay Troy's thick-as-a-brick blues riffs and Julie Edwards' monstrous cavewoman beats proving that the dynamic duo can hold up to the hype." One of its lynchpins is a triumphant little ditty about waking up somewhere unexpected called — what else? — "Walk of Shame." But rather than embrace the traditional meaning of the familiar phrase Deap Vally turn it into an act of excellence — a sing of a life well-lived. The brand new video above plays with that concept, finding the pair out for a late-night stroll that's frequently interrupted by wild bouts of head-banging. Oh, and finger-snapping, and hip-wiggling, and leg-popping, and zipper-flipping.

October 10, 2013 –
Fiona Apple and her current tour collaborator Blake Mills have been sharing new material from the road. Though their first stop in Portland ended under less-than-desirable circumstances, the set was by all accounts fantastic, and delivered a beautifully piano-driven gem possibly dubbed "I Want You to Love Me." You can find that below, but first, via Consequence of Sound, we have an even more freshly surfaced song apparently called "Tipple."This one also came from that October 3 show and finds Apple and Mills duetting over a soulfully swaying groove with Americana overtones. Their interplay is a thing to behold — always flirting with chaos but never quite going there.

October 10, 2013 –
Been on Facebook recently? Have snarky friends? Heard about this whole government shutdown thing? If you answered "yes" to those questions, there's a good chance you've already seen the photo above and had yourself a good chuckle. But as it turns out, if America were polled right here, right now, Nickelback would likely have a much larger lead on the United States Congress in terms of popularity. As it turns out, that photo of a CNBC broadcast concerns data published in early January. Talk about things that make you go Hmm....Yes, as the Internet is known for cultivating an environment of 100 percent accuracy 100 percent of the time, we too were shocked to learn that the currently active meme comes from those bygone days ("Before Yeezus" or B.Y., if you will).